New York, January 28, 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) changed today Controladora
Mabe, S.A. de C.V.'s (Mabe) ratings
outlook to stable from negative. At the same time, Moody's
affirmed Mabe's Baa3 senior unsecured and issuer's ratings.
Affirmations:
..Issuer: Controladora Mabe, S.A.
de C.V.
.... Issuer Rating, Affirmed Baa3
....Gtd Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Affirmed Baa3
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: Controladora Mabe, S.A.
de C.V.
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Negative
RATINGS RATIONALE
The change in Mabe's outlook to stable from negative reflects the
strong recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and our
expectation that the company's operation and credit metrics will
remain solid over the next 12-18 months.
Mabe's Baa3 ratings incorporate its position as a leading manufacturer
and distributor of major appliances, its geographic diversification
with an extensive distribution network throughout America, and its
broad product portfolio with luxury and mainstream brands. Mabe's
credit profile is also supported by its long-term agreement to
produce and sell ranges, refrigerators and laundry products to General
Electric Company (Baa1 negative) Appliances in the US and its adequate
credit metrics. On the other hand, the rating is constrained
by Mabe's exposure to commodity prices and foreign exchange rate volatility,
event risk from its strategy to grow through acquisitions, the highly
competitive environment in its territories of operation, and the
cyclicality of white-line products.
Mabe's largest markets are the United States of America (Aaa stable),
Mexico (Baa1 negative), and Canada (Aaa stable) which together account
for 73% of consolidated sales. The company will benefit
from the expected economic recovery in its main territories of operation.
Accordingly, we estimate that in 2021 the US economy will grow by
4.2%, Canada's GDP will rise 5.0%,
and Mexico's GDP will increase by 3.5% in 2021.
Mabe's profitability and credit metrics improved since the 2nd half
of 2020. Mabe's debt/EBITDA, as adjusted by Moody's,
declined to 2.3x as of September 31, 2020, down from
3.2x as of March 31, 2020. We estimate Mabe's
leverage declined towards 2.0x by year-end 2020 as the company's
EBITDA continued to increase while paying down around $163 million
in debt.
Mabe has a strong liquidity profile. Mabe reported cash on hand
of $203 million as of September 31, 2020 that covered 3.3x
its short-term debt. In addition, Mabe has around
$440 million in advised credit facilities to support its working
capital requirements. Mabe has consistently generated positive
free cash flow (defined as cash from operations minus dividends minus
capex) in 2015-2019 and over the twelve months ended September
31, 2020. While the company will rise its capex to around
$160 million in 2021, to finance the increase in installed
capacity, we estimate that it will continue to post positive free
cash flow in 2021-22.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The ratings could be upgraded if the company improves its profitability
while maintaining strong interest coverage with adj. EBIT/Interest
expense above 5.0x and leverage (adj. debt/EBITDA) below
2.5x. To be considered for an upgrade, the company
should also keep its long-term contract to produce GE products
for the US market while posting robust liquidity and cash generation.
The ratings could be downgraded if adj. debt/EBITDA remains above
3.0x for a prolonged period of time. A deterioration on
Mabe's profitability, liquidity or credit metrics could trigger
a downgrade. A change in Mabe's long-term contract
to produce GE products that could jeopardize its relevance for GE's
US market could also result in a downgrade.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Consumer Durables
Industry published in April 2017 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1060509.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Controladora Mabe, S.A. de C.V. is a
Mexican manufacturer and distributor of refrigerators, ranges,
dryers and washing machines and distributor of built-in ovens and
hoods, water coolers, dryers, dishwashers, microwave
ovens and related parts and components. The company is currently
51.6% owned by Mexican shareholders (Berrondo and Saiz families)
and by the Haier Group (48.4%). The company reported
revenues of $3.1 billion over the twelve months ended September
31, 2020.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings
issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's
credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement
provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may
be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each
case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior
to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have
affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings
tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
The ratings have been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated
agent(s) and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
These ratings are solicited. Please refer to Moody's Policy
for Designating and Assigning Unsolicited Credit Ratings available on
its website www.moodys.com.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1243406.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the UK and is endorsed
by Moody's Investors Service Limited, One Canada Square,
Canary Wharf, London E14 5FA under the law applicable to credit
rating agencies in the UK. Further information on the UK endorsement
status and on the Moody's office that issued the credit rating is
available on www.moodys.com.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Alonso Sanchez
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
Ave. Paseo de las Palmas
No. 405 - 502
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, DF 11000
Mexico
JOURNALISTS: 1 888 779 5833
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Marianna Waltz, CFA
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653